Surfette

Hillary will support Obama's nomination: In her own words -- and yours

Cross-posted from BlogHer.

From my email inbox, dated 10:39:48 PM PDT Wednesday

Dear Lisa,

I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign. Over the course of the last 16 months, I have been privileged and touched to witness the incredible dedication and sacrifice of so many people working for our campaign. Every minute you put into helping us win, every dollar you gave to keep up the fight meant more to me than I can ever possibly tell you.

On Saturday, I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans.

I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party's nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.

When I decided to run for president, I knew exactly why I was getting into this race: to work hard every day for the millions of Americans who need a voice in the White House.

I made you -- and everyone who supported me -- a promise: to stand up for our shared values and to never back down. I'm going to keep that promise today, tomorrow, and for the rest of my life.

I will be speaking on Saturday about how together we can rally the party behind Senator Obama. The stakes are too high and the task before us too important to do otherwise.

I know as I continue my lifelong work for a stronger America and a better world, I will turn to you for the support, the strength, and the commitment that you have shown me in the past 16 months. And I will always keep faith with the issues and causes that are important to you.

In the past few days, you have shown that support once again with hundreds of thousands of messages to the campaign, and again, I am touched by your thoughtfulness and kindness.

I can never possibly express my gratitude, so let me say simply, thank you.

Sincerely,

Hillary Rodham Clinton

So -- what do you think of this letter? Is this the heartfelt note to followers and gracious concession that will build a bridge to coalitions of voters and donors alike for Obama '08?

Jill Zimon describes Sen. Clinton's email with the headline Clinton's plea to supporters: Stakes too high not to rally behind Obama: 

"There will be some people who won’t let her go - either as the candidate or for not using the words they want her to use with her supporters. That’s going to be their problem."

Sen. Clinton's email reads a little like what BlogHer user (and Obama supporter) Laracolvin sounds like she needs to get beyond a "charring" primary season: 

What This Idealist Learned From the Primaries

"Happy post-primary. It is final...finally, and Barack Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee. Somewhere inside me the swells of relief are meeting up with the waves of excitement and pride - but I'll be damned if I can unearth them to show you. See, anticlimatic is a mild description of what I'm feeling. Fatigued - too cliche. Weary - too connotated. Like a steak once pink and juicy left on the grill too long, I'm just plain charred by the past few months..."

In Hillary a la carte, Gloria Pan is, if anything, blunter. After extolling Sen. Clinton's virtues, she takes aim at the entourage in an imaginary conversation with Sen. Obama:

"We totally get it: Hillary et al is probably more than you want to or could swallow. What if, however, in exchange for making her your Number Two, Harold [Ickes] has to go serve in the Middle East for a few years, preferably in a part of the desert where the cellular service is spotty? And Bill [Clinton] could be US ambassador to England and hang out with old pal Tony, if he can get over Tony making George his new BFF before Bill’s seat in the Oval Room was barely cold. With both these dudes out of the country, you could have Hillary à la carte (with a little Chelsea on the side)."

Lefty BlogHer Contributing Editor Morra Aarons, equally blunt and a veteran of John Kerry's 2004 campaign, has moved on to what will win Democrats the election in November: Hillary Clinton isn't macho enough to be VP

What I'm not seeing much of, yet anyway, is an echo of the poll CBS News released yesterday about the fundamental difference Hillary Clinton's candidacy has made for women in public office.

CBS Poll: Clinton's Run Opens Doors For Women Most Voters Think Her Candidacy Will Make It Easier For Other Women To Run For President

"Hillary Clinton's campaign as the first serious female contender for the Democratic presidential nomination represents a shattering of the glass ceiling in presidential politics, a new CBS News poll shows. Most voters think that win or lose, her candidacy will make it easier for other women to run for president.

"Sixty percent of men and 76 percent of women agree that Clinton's candidacy will make it easier for future women to run for president.

"The historic nature of Clinton’s candidacy is reflected in the bipartisan nature of voters’ views on this question..."

So -- what do you think? Will Hillary's letter build bridges? Should she be VP or not? Is it possible to recruit her millions of supporters - or will they default to Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican candidate?

And one last question: Do you think more women will run for office now that Hillary has? Will you?

Maybe I won't hear "Gee I've never met anyone from Montana before" quite so often now...

Cross-posted from BlogHer.

Oh the irony.

     After years of being told "I've never met anyone from Montana before!" my home state of fewer than one million people will have a high profile Tuesday when voters in Montana and South Dakota (with even fewer inhabitants) go to the polls to decide which Democratic nominee gets their combined 31 delegates.

     But we're not here today to talk about the Election 2008 horse race. Given the divisive acrimony created by the ongoing battle for delegates between the Clinton and Obama campaigns, I think it's time we focus our community's attention on a policy issue that partisan bickering won't resolve: Iraq.

How appropriate for Montana and South Dakota, where we locals grow up familiar with the sight of yellow ribbons tied around trees. In Montana, where logging and mining have taken a beating in the past 30 years, and where a $6.55 minimum wage means a full-time wage-earner earns $13,624 a year for starters, military careers represent a fantastic opportunity for advancement and education.  It's no surprise to me that Montana ranks second for the number of troops killed in Iraq per capita at 25 per million residents as of May 1.

That's why in this post, I'm going to focus on the candidates' answers to your Voter Manifesto questions about Iraq below:

BlogHer Voter Manifesto
Topic: Iraq Questions: 1. Will you work to end the Iraq war before the 2008 election? If so, how? 2. The war is draining our country’s finances, and even with a significant troop pullout, the costs will not end soon. How do you propose to keep paying for the costs of war? 3. What are you physically going to do to help the Veteran's Administration and soldiers in need, instead of just paying lip service?
Read all 12 questions

I chronicle answers by Senators Clinton, McCain and Obama in their own words and in pretty excruciating detail below.

I have to share that, when it comes to caring for veterans, I can only read these opinions with the eyes of a woman whose best friend from fifth grade shipped off to Germany after our high school graduation. I was lucky enough to go straight to college. She went straight into the Army,  started her down a path that resulted in her earning a Ph.D. in German; today she leads the town's high school German program.

I'm relieved to see action plans for veterans in all three candidate planks, specific plans with voting records and dollar amounts next to them. John McCain's plans for the future are less well articulated, but given his decades-long voting record on the subject of veterans, I'm satisfied that I know where he stands. I think both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama chart strong, clear plans to reversing the abysmal record of health service to veterans that we saw with the shameful legacy of Walter Reed. The key with any new administration will be rewarding news organizations like The Washington Post to continue to watchdog this essential issue.

As for Iraq? Nothing speaks more loudly than the stark contrast between Sen. McCain's language and that of Senators Obama and Clinton, between the Democrats' immediate plans for initiating withdrawal if they take office -- not to mention Sen. Obama's ongoing opposition for the war -- and Sen. McCain's strong belief that the latest surge has been "paid off" and that "those gains would be lost if we we were to...withdraw most of our troops" at this time.

Enough of my impressions -- I want to hear yours, once you read their policies. Here's what I found when I took these questions to the Web sites of presidential candidates, seeking their solution to Iraq here's what I found -- in alphabetical order, first by party and second by last name...

Please go read the rest over here on BlogHer -- look forward to hearing what you think I missed.
 

UPDATED - BlogHer EXCLUSIVE: Barack Obama answers policy questions from women who blog (Video)

Sen. Barack Obama sat down with BlogHer this weekend to answer key policy questions developed by this community of bloggers for 2008 presidential candidates.

In an exclusive on-camera interview with BlogHer, Sen. Obama (D-IL) answers questions about the economy, Iraq, health care and the environment --  including a health-care screening process for every veteran and support for their spouses and families, health insurance coverage for birth control to avoid unwanted pregnancies, and working with China and other countries on climate change, a "major problem." (For specific questions and video of answers see the bottom of this post.)

Sen. Obama is the first presidential candidate to accept our invitation to come on-camera to directly address BlogHer's audience, which now reaches nine million women each month via BlogHer.com and a publishing syndicate of 1,800 blogs. The interview was conducted in Roseburg, Oregon, by Contributing Editor Erin Kotecki Vest, with input from Contributing Editor Kim Pearson. BlogHer also has extended an open invitation to Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and John McCain (R-AZ) to discuss their presidential candidacies with this community. 

By answering these questions, I think Sen. Obama has made an important statement about the value he personally places on voters, our questions and opinions, the communities we reach on our blogs and, ultimately, our votes. That's a powerful message. Especially since BlogHer is a non-partisan organization the women in our network span the political spectrum. This isn't a presidential candidate preaching to the converted -- it's a presidential candidate reaching out to an important cross-section of American influencers, given the audiences these women reach on their blogs. As I say above, this is an opportunity to speak directly to the voter that BlogHer also has offered to Candidates Clinton and McCain. We very much hope they will take us up on that offer. 

Here are Sen. Obama's answers to specific questions: Thanks everyone! We just posted the senator's answers to individual questions for folks who want to discuss specific issues: Economy:  Sen. Obama answers "How will you create federal public policy that helps families break the cycle of poverty?"

Environment:   Sen. Obama answers the question, "We are reaching the point of no return on climate change. What will your legacy be on the environment?"

Health care: Sen. Obama answers "How will you allocate scarce resources to help solve the country's health-care crisis?" and "What is your position on requiring all major private, Medicaid, or federal health insurance plans cover birth control?"

Iraq: Sen. Obama answers three questions about the war in Iraq: 1. Will you work to end the Iraq war before the 2008 election? If so, how? 2. How do you propose to keep paying for the costs of war? 3. What are you physically going to do to help the Veteran's Administration and soldiers in need?

So - what do you think of Sen. Obama's decision to do the interview? Do you think the other candidates should participate? Come on over to this BlogHer discussion and tell us what you think -- and what you like to see from BlogHer's convention coverage.

I'm closing comments below so that we can keep that conversation all in one place - thanks.

Ode to Maybelle for the Mother's Day Blog Carnival: "Mother Knows Best"

Shannon Lowe of Rocks In My Dryer has thrown down a mighty challenge: A Mother's Day blog carnival called "Mother Knows Best." I doubt I can match Shannon's lovely, spare prose about the lessons she most prizes from her mother; instead I pass the hat to my sister's post, Angels R Us. But it's my mother's inner political fighter that I'd like to talk about, as I did with Nordette Adams earlier this month in her series I Remember Mama Voting.

I come from a long line of women for whom the ballot box is a sacred duty. A self-described yellow-dog Democrat, my mother was born on Nov. 4, a date that is regularly Election Day in the United States. Perfect karma.

Lord, how she loves politics -- and how her politics have deepened my love for her. Mom was born to it -- one of my favorite memories is of her fortieth birthday, an Election Day, when my parents' friends stretched her name on a husting between two maple trees.

"Did your mother win?" the neighbors asked later. I laughed. She sure would have, had her name ever appeared on a ballot. But rather than be a politician, my mother was all voter, all the time. Some of my earliest political memories are of my mother and father talking about experiencing race riots in the late 1960s in Baltimore, Nixon's resignation and the sacred duty they both consider voting to be. 

"Your vote is private," Mom told me, in the wake of Nixon's resignation as gangs of kids roamed the neighborhood, asking whose parents voted for whom. "Don't ever forget to do it, but you don't have to tell anyone what you decided," she assured me.

My favorite political memory is the event that sent her over the edge....the Anita Hill | Clarence Thomas hearings. Every day during the Hill|Thomas hearings, I'd pick up the phone from the California newsroom where I was working and hear an iron slapping cotton to the rhythm of a Georgia accent. Mom.

My mother was a teacher first, and then later a principal, but she always did my father's shirts. I think she had two motivations: One was love. The other, when she was furious, was anger.

Dad looked good during the hearings, I'll tell you that.

"Strom Thurmond cannot die soon ENOUGH!" she'd rage, working through the day's insults to Anita Hill and ironing his button-downs to a fare-thee-well.

"I cannot believe what they are putting her through, these men. Listen to them! All of them...." I cannot further re-print her parody of Joe Biden or Strom Thurmond without (a) further permission or (b) nearly peeing my pants. It was that good.

And to think that she was shipped north to private school during de-segregation. You'd never know from her politics. My mother's deep concern for other women, her love for other people, has always tinged her approach to public policy. She probably wouldn't always call it politics -- she'd just say she was doing what's right.

That's why, all these years, the little lady -- now a grandma many times over -- who can put herself in the shoes of other people has been such a terrific example for me. And why Election Day will always feel like a celebration.

Okay, blog carnivalists -- tag, you're it! And if you are interested in more stories across the generations, don't miss I Remember Mama Voting at ACORN.

Photo thanks: Caribbeanfreephoto

Send in your questions for Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP, now campaigning for GOP's John McCain

BlogHer has the honor of interviewing Carly Fiorina this Friday, when I'll sit down to record a podcast with the former CEO/Chair of Hewlett Packard, the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company and, as of March 8, leading surrogate and fundraising chair for presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

Here's a recent YouTube video recorded by techRepublican where Ms. Fiorina talks about her support of John McCain's presidency, what her candidate needs to win, and why being listed by Fortune as the most powerful woman in business for six years in a row is a little like...playing golf:

Join us! I invite you to tell me what you would like me to ask Carly Fiorina on your behalf. Please leave your question in the comments on this post and be sure to include your name and blog as you would like me to attribute your question.

The interview will be available soon afterwards as a podcast on BlogHer.com, which I'll link from here too.

Thanks in advance for posting your questions before 5pm PST Thursday, May 8. I look forward to reading them.

My inner talent scout says: WhatTamiSaid is hot, soon to be haute

ALERT: Hot new essayist. Hire her now or lose her to someone smarter than you. Check her out

WhatTamiSaid: Five reasons to be bitter

Whether you agree with her choice of candidate or not, what a writer. File under:

Peoplewhosaytheycan'tfindalyricalcurrenteventswriterwhohappens -

tobeblackandfemaleare -

NOTlookingenoughORcallingme. Hear?

Two smartest, funniest women covering Election 2008 for other women who are guarding their votes carefully

I am basically wiping away tears of joy. Where else can we find smart, insightful commentary on the NH ABC/Facebook debate scene -- from the "changiest" candidates to the correspondents and their UGG boots -- with such a fantastic lack of pomposity and nary a whiff of punditry?

Why, from BlogHer's righty and lefty correspondents, Mary Katharine Ham (of Townhall.com) and Morra Aarons-Mele (also of Womenandwork.org), who posted Morra and MKH in New Hampshire: Contest for the Changiest Candidate! this morning.

And they're just the tip of the omnipartisan iceberg over at BlogHer last night. The BlogHer community's live-blog commentary on our open thread put the racist and sexist commetns on Facebook to shame. As Professor Kim Pearson put it,

"Wonder how much people making the inane comments on FB even understand the discussion taking place here. By the way, this discussion is a like a grad school seminar, while the Republican panel had the tenor of a barroom argument. No one has called anyone else a liar or smirked (as Romney did) while his or her opponents make their points."

See for yourself:

Think kind of voter intelligence will turn the tides on the lack of attention BlogHer's Election 2008 guide has managed to obtain from presidential candidates, which I've blogged here: Women bloggers to presidential candidates: Stop ignoring us and don't pander if you want our votes?

If I were one of these candidates, I'd want a personal interview with one of these videobloggers and an opportunity to speak directly to a network of more than 8 million influential women who blog. Wouldn't you?

With one phone call you can help stop infanticide, child abuse and suicide: Support the MOTHERS ACT today

Please stop what you're doing and pick up your keyboard and your phone today to help change the course of maternal history for thousands of women and children.

I'm excited to announce the first official blogging initiative of BlogHers Act ! As part of our commitment to make a difference on the issue of maternal Health in 2007-2008 we are urging you to join us and the incredible team at Postpartum Support International as we pick up our keyboards and our telephones to help support legislation aimed at saving women who suffer from postpartum depression in the Blog Day for the Mothers Act -- TODAY.

You may wonder why you should care -- especially, to be blunt, if you don't have children yourself and/or don't plan to? Because this disease is a silent killer that touches hundreds of thousands of women and their vulnerable children. Nobody tells the story better than Katherine Stone (no relation):

"With all we know and as smart as we are, only 15% of 800,000 women will get diagnosed and treated.  That is so wrong on so many levels.  Women are not being diagnosed because they're not being educated and they're not being screened.  Untreated, the consequences of maternal mood disorders range from chronic, disabling depression to death.  The impact of untreated maternal depression on infants/children ranges from behavioral and learning disabilities to depression and, in the worst case scenarios, death from infanticide." (More from Katherine here here: Help Mothers Everywhere: Join Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act on October 24th)

What is the MOTHERS Act?  The Moms Opportunity to Access Help, Education, Research and Support for Postpartum Depression Act, or MOTHERS Act (S. 3529), will ensure that new mothers and their families are educated about postpartum depression, screened for symptoms and provided with essential services.  In addition, it will increase research into the causes, diagnoses and treatments for postpartum depression.  The bill is sponsored by Senators Menendez and Durbin. Specifically, the MOTHERS Act will help new moms by:

• Providing important education and screening on postpartum depression (PPD) that can lead to early identification and treatment.  The legislation includes two grants to help healthcare providers educate, identify and treat PPD.
• Expanding important research to improve and discover new treatments, diagnostic tools and educational materials for providers.  Since the exact cause of PPD isn't known, research continues to be the key to unlocking the mystery of this condition.

Here's what we -- BlogHer, Postpartum Support International and Postpartum Progress are joining you to do TODAY: 

• CALL YOUR SENATOR: Visit the Postpartum Support International website and click the Welcome Bloggers button at the top to get all the information you need about the bill, how your readers can call their Senators, what to say, etc.
• IF YOU'RE A BLOGGER: Publish your post on postpartum depression and the MOTHERS Act on Wednesday, October 24th and don't forget to tag your post with: Blog Day for the MOTHERS Act, BlogHers Act, BlogHer, Postpartum Progress, Postpartum Support International, postpartum depression
• Once you've blogged, be sure to go back to BlogHer and leave your URL so others can link to you.

Please blog it and encourage your readers to help save women's lives. Please pick up the phone and call your senator. Together, we can make a huge difference for a very desperate group of women and their families.

And if we don't do it, nobody will.

You're invited: Vote on BlogHer's next conference location, join BlogHerAds

Cross-posted from BlogHer

Photo credit: Keynote conversation at BlogHer '07, Navy Pier, Chicago, by hyku

August 9, 2007

Greetings everyone ~

Eight hundred bloggers later -- 800! -- BlogHer Conference '07 in Chicago lives on in thousands of blogs (see "blogher07" and "blogher_07" on YouTube, Google and Flickr) and in the memories of those of us who attended.

We are excited and inspired to dig into the coming year. We've been busy -- redesigning our Web site, re-opening our ad network and planning the locations (multiple!) for BlogHer '08. Here's what we're up to:

1. BlogHer Conference '07 hits 800! Tell us: What - and where - should our conferences be in 2008?

2. You're invited: BlogHerAds.com is accepting applications from bloggers who want quality advertising

3. Our new Web site: How to use BlogHer.com as a showcase for your blogging and a news service for getting your word out

Here are the details:

On blogging, hate speech, Election '08 and life: What are your questions for Elizabeth Edwards?

Cross-posted on BlogHer.

If you could ask Blogger Elizabeth Edwards anything, what would it be?

Because you can. In ten days, Edwards takes the stage at BlogHer '07 in the final keynote discussion of this year's conference. She and I will talk for a few minutes and then we'll open up the microphones for a room-wide conversation. For those of us who cannot be there in person, I'd love to ask your question and credit you and your blog if the conversation goes in your direction. All you need to do is list your question below.

In a year when social media is dominating both the blogs for husband John Edwards' 2008 presidential campaign, and comments regularly. Whether or not you like Mrs. Edwards’ politics – and let me re-confirm immediately that BlogHer is a non-partisan organization – she has embraced the Web, using it to make an enormous amount of news in the past six months, some of it quite personal, some of it strategic and political. Here’s a sampling, including some of her own posts:

• March 3 ~ Denounces hate speech by Ann Coulter on the John Edwards ’08 blog, urges people not to “to sit silent in acceptance”


• March 22 ~ Announces that her breast cancer has returned


• April 4 ~ Continues campaigning for her husband despite cancer, to positive and negative reviews


• June 24 ~ Splits with her husband’s view on gay marriage


• June 25 ~ Asks Ann Coulter on live television to stop “the personal attacks” and later blogs it


• July 17 ~ Says Hillary Clinton is not as vocal a women's advocate as her husband


• July 19 ~ Says John Edwards' health plan would cover reproductive health, including abortions and birth control

So you tell me: What should we ask? Or not? Take it away -- comments are open here on BlogHer. You're also invited to leave your opinions below. Thanks.

Photo credit: Citymama. Elizabeth Edwards with Mary Tsao at a 2006 blogger meet-up in San Francisco.